Your Hospital Bag Checklist for a Planned Operation (UK)

If you have a date in the diary for a planned operation, packing is one of the few parts of the whole business you can actually control. A good hospital bag checklist for a planned operation takes about twenty minutes to put together and saves you a lot of small miseries later the 3am realisation that you have no lip balm, or the discovery that the ward shower is occupied, three floors from your bed, and you cannot get your dressing wet anyway.

This is a practical packing guide for adults going into hospital in the UK for planned surgery, whether that is day surgery or a few nights on a ward. It is written from the point of view of the things people tell us they wish they had brought.

Before you pack anything: read the letter

Your hospital will send you instructions before your operation, usually after a pre-operative assessment appointment. That letter is the only thing that actually matters. It will cover the details that are specific to you and your procedure — what time to arrive, when to stop eating and drinking, what to do about your usual medicines, and whether there is anything you need to remove or avoid on the day.

Where anything in this article differs from your hospital's instructions, follow your hospital. If the letter is unclear, or it has not arrived a week before your date, ring the number on your appointment paperwork and ask. Pre-op teams would far rather answer a question in advance than send you home unoperated on the day.

The hospital bag checklist

Keep it to one small bag you can carry yourself, plus a separate bag left at home or in the car for the journey back. Ward storage is usually a small locker, and there is rarely anywhere secure for anything valuable.

Paperwork and medicines

• Your admission letter and appointment paperwork
• A written list of your current medicines, with doses
• Your usual medicines in their original, labelled boxes
• Glasses, hearing aids, dentures — and the cases for all three
• Contact numbers written on paper, not only in your phone

The written list matters more than people expect: you may be asked the same medication questions several times, sometimes when you are groggy, and handing one over is easier than reciting it.

Clothes

• Loose pyjamas or a nightdress — front-opening if you are having chest, shoulder or breast surgery
• A dressing gown
• Slippers with a proper back to them, not flip-flops or backless mules
• Clean, loose clothes to come home in, a size roomier than usual
• Enough underwear and socks for a day longer than you expect to stay

Wards run warm at night and cold at dawn, so layers are more useful than one thick thing. Loose is the general rule: anything that has to go on over a dressing, a drain or a swollen joint needs more room than you would think.

Washing and personal care

This is the section people underpack, because at home washing is not something you plan. In hospital it becomes a small logistical exercise.

• Toothbrush, toothpaste, a small towel and a flannel
• Body wipes or rinse-free wash for the days you cannot get to a shower
• Dry shampoo or a rinse-free shampoo cap
• Lip balm and an unscented moisturiser  hospital air is very drying
• Hair ties, a comb, and anything you would not want to be without for three days
• Tissues and a small packet of wipes for the bedside table

Comfort and the long evenings

• Phone charger with a long cable — sockets are often behind the bed
• Earplugs and an eye mask — a ward at night is never fully dark or quiet
• Something undemanding to read, or headphones
• A refillable water bottle with a lid you can open one-handed
• A little cash or a contactless card for the trolley and the car park

Washing in hospital: the part nobody warns you about

Most people going in for a planned operation expect the surgery. Far fewer expect that for the first day or two afterwards, getting properly clean can be genuinely difficult. You may be attached to a drip, unsteady on your feet, waiting for someone to help you to the bathroom, or under instructions to keep a dressing completely dry.

Your nursing team will tell you what your dressing and wound need, and that guidance takes priority over anything else. But for the rest of you — the parts that are nowhere near the wound — being able to have a proper wash without leaving the bed makes a real difference to how human you feel.

If you cannot get to the shower

A large body wipe does more than a flannel and a bowl of cooling water, and it does not require anyone to carry anything. Packing a few unscented body wipes is worth the space; unscented is usually the sensible choice on a ward, where strong fragrance is unwelcome in a shared bay and skin can be more reactive than usual after an anaesthetic. Rinse-free cleansing foam is the other option if you prefer something you apply and towel off.

If you want one thing to drop in the bag and stop thinking about, a top-to-toe kit covers body, hair and face in a single package. Whatever you bring, put it in the bedside locker rather than the bag on the floor — reaching down is exactly what you will not want to do.

Please do not flush wipes of any kind, including ours, they go in the bin.

Hair

Hair is the thing that makes people feel grubbiest and is the hardest to deal with from a bed. A rinse-free shampoo cap warms in your hands, goes on like a shower cap and needs no water, no basin and no second person. We have written more about the options in our guide to washing your hair after surgery, including what to do if you cannot lift your arms above your head.

Day surgery is different

If you are in and out the same day, you need much less — paperwork, medicines list, loose comfortable clothes, something to pass the time, and a phone charger. Day units often involve a surprising amount of waiting in a chair.

The one thing worth packing even for day surgery is something to freshen up with before you go home. You may have been awake since five, fasted, cannulated and gowned, and a five-minute wash before you get in the car is disproportionately restorative.

Arrange your lift home in advance — you will usually be asked who is collecting you, so have a name and number ready.

What to leave at home

• Jewellery, watches and anything valuable or sentimental
• Large amounts of cash
• Laptops and tablets, unless you genuinely cannot do without one
• Strongly scented perfume, aftershave or body spray
• Fresh flowers, unless you have checked that the ward allows them
• A suitcase — there is nowhere on a ward to put it

If friends and family ask what to bring when they visit, send them our list of things that are actually useful to give someone in hospital. It is a kinder answer than "nothing, honestly".

The going-home bag

Pack a second bag that stays at home or in the car. The first few days back are usually when you are least able to shop, reach or bend.

• Easy food that needs no standing up to prepare
• A supply of whatever painkillers you have been told you may take
• Clean bedding already on the bed before you leave
• A phone charger by the sofa as well as the bedroom
• Body wipes and dry shampoo for the stretch before you can shower normally again

That last one catches people out. Depending on the operation, there may be a period at home where showering is awkward, restricted or exhausting long after you have left the ward. Our guide to keeping clean and fresh after surgery covers that first fortnight at home in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

What should I pack in my hospital bag for a planned operation?

Paperwork and a written medicines list, your medicines in their original boxes, glasses or hearing aids, loose nightwear and a dressing gown, backed slippers, toiletries including something to wash with that needs no shower, a long phone charger, earplugs and an eye mask, and loose clothes to go home in. One small bag is plenty.

How long before my operation should I pack?

Two or three days before is sensible. It gives you time to replace anything you have run out of, and it means the morning of your admission involves picking up a bag rather than hunting for a charger.

Can I wash normally in hospital after surgery?

It depends entirely on your operation, your dressing and how mobile you are, and your nursing team will tell you what is allowed. Many people find that for the first day or two a full shower is not practical, which is why wipes or a rinse-free wash are worth packing.

What should I wear for a planned operation?

Something loose and comfortable that you do not mind creasing, and shoes you can put on without bending far. You will change into a gown for the procedure itself, so the priority is what is easy to get on and off afterwards, particularly around the site of the surgery.

Do I need to bring my own towel and toiletries?

Usually yes. Hospitals provide the basics in an emergency, but they are not there for a planned stay, and what is available varies from ward to ward. Bring your own and you will not have to ask.

What can I take into hospital for an overnight stay?

The same list, minus the spare days of clothing. For a single night, focus on the things that make the night itself bearable: earplugs, an eye mask, a charger that reaches the bed, lip balm, and something to freshen up with in the morning before you are seen on the ward round.

In short

One small bag, packed a few days early. Paperwork and medicines first, because those are the ones that cause problems if they are missing. Loose clothes, because everything is more swollen and more awkward than you expect. And something to wash with that does not depend on getting to a shower — because that is the gap between what people pack and what people need.

Then read your hospital's letter one more time, and let them take it from there.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Always follow the instructions given by your own hospital, surgeon or nursing team.